Rules
Welcome to the one page on this Wiki that'll never be in-character (at least unless the ST approves a "no fourth wall" derangement)... the Rules Page. The following ground rules are in place: * Assume VtM Revised (the "3rd edition core book") rules are in place. Thus, only changes from that are included below. * Natural ones do not remove successes (this is to fix the "math glitch" in the d10 system where, on high-difficulty rolls; adding more dice increases your odds of failing and botching and canceling "bought successes" like Willpower). * The ST reserves the right to change or re-interpret the rules at any time. (This one is ''actually in the books, but we just want to remind everybody this Is Not D&D. :) ) 'World of Darkness' No big changes to note here-- obviously the events in ''Gehenna ''didn't happen, and so neither did some of the related changes (like the Gangrel leaving the Camarilla). The ST will be using "line-item vetoes" as-needed on supplementary canon: ignoring the blurb about Detroit in ''Guide to the Sabbat ''and disavowing the existence of the "True Black Hand." 'Sects and Clans We're only keeping a few changes from 20A. * '''Brujah: Cannot spend Willpower on the Self-Control roll to resist frenzy. They can still attempt to suppress and end it as normal. * Gangrel: Animalistic features acquired from frenzying are temporary. 20A doesn't have rules for this; assume they simply fade away over time. Some features may become permanent instead-- no rules for this either, of course; so the ST may simply do so for particularly thematic or dramatic traits. 'Traits ' The changes to abilities particular are a bit more expansive. * Abilities: Add Awareness as a talent and Technology as a skill. * Linguistics is now a merit (1 point per language), however; it's easier than most to obtain in-story (if the character is willing to invest the time and effort into learning one). Multicultural character backstories is sufficient to start with an extra language as well. * "Fields of study": Certain abilities require or suggest you specialize in them at the first dot, such as Crafts and Technology. Since-- as usual-- 20A didn't provide any guidance for actually implementing its new rule, here's what we came up with. **When making a check in your area of expertise, specialization applies normally. If your field is particularly narrow, you may also benefit from reduced difficulty. ** In fields related to your specialty (an artist doing graphic design, say) the specialization bonus doesn't apply, but otherwise you roll normally. ** If the challenge is only slightly related (a defense attorney brushing up on intellectual property law for a case) the difficulty rises by 1. ** If the task is mostly unrelated so that only things like similar methodologies or a certain mindset applies, such as a dancer trying her hand at acting, the difficulty goes up by 2. ** If the task is almost or completely unrelated and the difference is just too challenging, the difficulty is either 9 or 10 and the ST may rule it's simply impossible to attempt (a cable repairman trying to design a semiconductor). * New backgrounds, such as Black Hand Membership, may be allowed to PCs. Check with the ST. We are using the rules for pooled backgrounds-- PCs can combine Domains to control much more territory than one person could on his own, for example. 'Disciplines ' Fairly substantial set of changes here, read closely! * Auspex: Now allows an opposed roll (Perception + Auspex vs. Manipulate + (Discipline)) when the user suspects the use of Chimerstry or Obfuscate in the area. * Celerity: Requires 1 blood point per bonus action. Dots in Celerity add to your Dexterity to determine your initiative score and movement speed. * Dominate: You can attempt to use it against targets whose eyes you can't clearly meet, but the difficulty goes up (from +1 if the target's eyes are obscured to +3 if he's blind). * Fortitude: You may spend a blood point to auto-succeed on your bonus soak dice against one attack. * Obtenebration: Tenebrous Form can take fewer than three rounds if the vampire's generation is high enough to spend multiple blood points in a turn. * Potence: Instead of bonus successes, you add dots of Potence as bonus dice to Strength-based rolls. (For strength-based combat rolls, such as grappling, 20A clarifies that Potence does not apply to the "attack roll," just the damage dealt.) You can spend 1 blood point to turn those dice into successes for 1 turn. * Vicissitude: Body Crafts is now folded into Medicine. Fleshcraft and Bonecraft require 1 blood point. 'Rules ' And finally... well, we're not rocking the boat too much here either. * Vampires are knocked out by being wounded beyond Incapacitated by bashing damage. Bashing "wraps around" to lethal after that point. They are put into torpor by lethal damage beyond Incapacitated, but are only killed by taking aggravated damage while in torpor. Gross destruction of the body (the infamous "wood chipper" example) still results in Final Death. * Multiple actions still use Revised rules: you take a cumulative penalty on all actions taken based on how many you're attempting (as opposed to 20A, where your dice pool for multiple actions is equal to the smallest of the action you're attempting, which you then have to divide between them).